Hogan's Alley Memorial Project

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

HAMP at Under the Volcano Festival August 12, 2007

In photo is HAMP member, Karina Vernon (centre-with mic) Kamala Todd (left) Grace Eiko Thomson from National Association of Japanese Canadians (right) and missing from the photo is Cease Wyss/T'Uy'Tanat from the Sko-Mish-Ul7h Nation.

The panel was called "Lost and Found: Intertwining the Lost Histories of the Downtown Eastside."

This much needed dialogue focussed on the lost and forgotten histories that both linger and disappear within the context of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. These women examined the ways communities in Vancouver deeply suffer from a collective, historical amnesia, in particular to Indigenous, Japanese and Black communitites that have existed in the city; they also discussed how this phenomenon enables developers and urban planners to continue regarding the land as 'empty' urban spaces in need of development.

During the workshop Grace, Karina and Cease Wyss focussed on the need to remember the minority communites that have been disappeared; especially the repressed indigenous histories on this colonised land.

The audience was unbelievably present and fully engaged depsite the ambient music from the main stage!